Install DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 6.8 on Debian-based systems with APT

Use these instructions to install DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 6.8 on Debian-based systems using APT. This process also installs the DataStax Agent for use with DSE OpsCenter 6.8. It doesn’t install DSE OpsCenter, DataStax Studio, or DataStax Bulk Loader (DSBulk).

For new deployments, DataStax recommends the latest patch release. If you are scaling an existing deployment, install the same patch release as the existing nodes. For a summary of features and changes in each release, see the DSE 6.8 release notes.

When installed from a package, DSE runs as a service. The service initialization script is located in /etc/init.d/dse. Run levels aren’t set by the package.

When you install DSE, it creates a cassandra superuser role in the database, and DSE runs as this user. Don’t use the default cassandra role in production because it is a security risk. Instead, create a new superuser role for running DSE.

For other installation options, see Choose an installation method.

Prerequisites

Prepare an environment where you want to install DSE, including sufficient hardware, a supported platform, and root or sudo access.
Install APT package manager.
Install a supported Java runtime: OpenJDK (recommended) or Oracle Java SE (JDK).

Java 11 can be used for core (transactional) workloads in DSE 6.8.22 and later. Java 8 is required for advanced workloads in all 6.8 patch releases.

If you install both Java 8 and Java 11, set your $JAVA_HOME environment variable to Java 11. Otherwise, set $JAVA_HOME to Java 8.
To run the CQL shell (cqlsh), install a supported Python version. DataStax recommends 3.8 to 3.11.
For production installations and simulated production test environments, review the recommended settings.

Some settings can be applied before installing DSE. For settings that require a running DSE instance, plan to apply them after the installation.
If you plan to use DSE OpsCenter:
- DSE 6.8 requires DSE OpsCenter 6.8. DSE 6.8 doesn’t support earlier versions.
- To use DSE OpsCenter Lifecycle Manager (LCM) to automatically manage the Java runtime for DSE clusters, see Manage Java installs and Choose a Java vendor in LCM.

Procedure

Install the libaio package for your environment:
- Debian platforms:
  sudo apt-get install libaio1
- Ubuntu 24.04 and later platforms:
  sudo apt-get install libaio1t64
Find DSE 6.8 on IBM Fix Central:
1. Go to Fix Central.
2. In the Product selector field, begin typing IBM DataStax Enterprise, and then select that option from the menu.
3. In the Release field, select the version that you want to install.
4. Click Continue.
5. On the Identify fixes page, click Continue to use the default Browse for fixes option.
6. On the Select fixes page, select the fix pack (DSE version) you want to install, and then click Continue.
  
  Depending on the product and version, more fix packs might be available if you set the Platform filter to All, and then click Submit.
7. If prompted, sign in with your IBMid.
  
  An IBMid account with MFA enabled is required. If you don’t have one, create an IBMid account. If your organization uses Enterprise Federation (EF) for authentication with corporate credentials, see the IBMid EF documentation.
8. On the Download options page, select Download using your browser (HTTPS), and then click Continue.
9. Review the terms and conditions, and then click I agree to activate the download links.
Click the DSE DEB package link to download the file, for example, dse-6.8.60-deb.zip.
Extract the DEB files from the .zip file:
```
sudo unzip dse-**VERSION**-deb.zip
```
You can use the package signing public key (dse-deb-signing.pub.key) in the file to set up and verify the DEB packages.
Set up a local APT repository to host the downloaded DSE Debian package.

For more information, see Setting up a local APT repository.
Add a DataStax repository file called /etc/apt/sources.list.d/datastax.sources.list:
```
echo "deb [trusted=yes] file:REPOSITORY_DIRECTORY_PATH ./" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/datastax.sources.list
```
The [trusted=yes] option allows APT to use the repository without GPG key verification.
Update the packages:
```
sudo apt-get update
```

Install the DSE packages:

Specify all packages;otherwise, the installation fails.

Install the latest version (6.8.x):
```
sudo apt-get install dse-full
```

Install an earlier 6.8.x version:

sudo apt-get install dse=version_number-1 \
    dse-full=version_number-1 \
    dse-libcassandra=version_number-1 \
    dse-libgraph=version_number-1 \
    dse-libhadoop2-client-native=version_number-1 \
    dse-libhadoop2-client=version_number-1 \
    dse-liblog4j=version_number-1 \
    dse-libsolr=version_number-1 \
    dse-libspark=version_number-1 \
    dse-libtomcat=version_number-1

For example:

sudo apt-get install dse=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-full=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libcassandra=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libgraph=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libhadoop2-client-native=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libhadoop2-client=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-liblog4j=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libsolr=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libspark=6.8.0-1 \
    dse-libtomcat=6.8.0-1

Optional: Install the demos:

Installing the DSE demos is not recommended for production. Only install the demos in development environments to run tutorials.
```
sudo apt-get install dse-demos=version_number-1
```

Start DSE

For single-node cluster installations only:

Start DSE:
```
sudo service dse start
```

Verify that DSE is running:

nodetool status

Review the output to verify that DSE is running:

Datacenter: Cassandra
=====================
Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--  Address    Load       Tokens  Owns    Host ID                               Rack
UN  127.0.0.1  82.43 KB   128     ?       40725dc8-7843-43ae-9c98-7c532b1f517e  rack1

Next steps

Replace the default cassandra role
If upgrading, continue following the upgrade guide
Configuration
Default file locations for tarball and Installer-No Services installations
Change logging locations after installation
Start and stop DataStax Enterprise
Recommended production settings
Test your DataStax Enterprise (DSE) cluster
Cassandra driver compatibility